A white paper from interviews conducted with global leaders about the impact of digital on corporate interactions in 2020. How is leadership impacted by new communication challenges and what solutions exist to handle better these new challenges!

1. © A l l r i g h t s re s e r ve d H AU T E C U LT U R E 2 0 2 0
HOW IS DIGITAL IMPACTING GLOBAL
TEAMS’ INTERACTIONS ?

2. I N T R O D U C T I O N
Globalization has shrunk the world and sped up communication
faster than ever, while the frequency of interactions has evolved.
Alongside with the growing use of technology, needless to say that
the only strategic advantage left is people, and the way we enable
them to interact together.
As the internet has entered our lives, a new kind of
communication has emerged, which we refer to as digital
communication - in other words reading and writing using
technology - suggesting real-time simultaneous communications,
as well as integrating data.
Today, much of companies' challenges arise due to the massive
web of connections and communications between teams, enabled
by globalisation. Add in the multiple of digital platforms and new
technologies, plus the massive use of constantly updated data, and
it’s irrefutable that digital has changed not only how society
functions, but critically the relationship between people.
With the raise of ‘common languages’, such as English and Data,
we’ve never been so connected (and objective), or have we…?!
The human brain is often hailed as the most complex object in the
universe – probably because much of its complexity is due to the
massive web of connections formed by its 10 billions of nerve cells;
wouldn’t that be an interesting analogy to describe digital ?

3. Let’s consider a digital (data-driven) stat for a minute : 90%.
A good one, right ? An excellent score even, no doubts !
So, let’s consider a 90% accuracy rate, within the supply chain area for
example. Quite a performant result, isn’t it ?
Fine, now let’s consider this same 90% accuracy stat, but this time within the
healthcare business... how does that sound now ?
GOOD, BAD ? LOW, HIGH ? (IN)EFFICIENT…?!
What truly makes a company ‘digital ready’ throughout its transformational
process is clearly not how well or fast it is able to get data, nor adopt
technology, but rather about the digital culture across its workforce.
Global companies are composed of people with very diverse thought
processes. Neither the english language nor the data one will resonate the
same across their walls, which quite naturally leads to key interrogations :
v Are global teams culturally ready to embrace digital driven collaboration ?
v Is ‘digital collaboration’ technology-driven, or culture-driven ?
v How can companies and teams leverage digital interactions ?
A QUICK ‘OBJECTIVE’ EXAMPLE BEFORE WE START…!

4. OBJECTIVES & METHODOLOGY
Digital dependence often impedes proper information exchange. In
face-to-face teams, participants can rely on nonverbal and
contextual cues to provide insight into what’s going on. When we
walk into an in-person meeting, for example, we can immediately
sense the individual and collective moods of the people in the
room — information that we use (consciously or not) to tailor
subsequent interactions. Having to rely on digital communication
erodes the transmission of this crucial type of intelligence, and
that’s what we want to dig into !
Team members from diverse backgrounds often
interpret a group’s goals or missions very differently
From such a statement, we wanted to put together an instructive
paper that would bring to life field experiences and spread
awareness around the importance for companies to provide their
teams with the appropriate frame and initiatives to ensure
optimum collaboration and thus, reduce interaction gaps, still way
too liable for so many businesses, some gone off the map…
We gathered testimonials from numerous global leaders, spread
across 12 cities, 9 countries and 4 continents and collected their
feedbacks through phone interviews and surveys. You will find real
life situations across this document to help you understand how to
best address those challenges !
E N J O Y T H E R E A D I N G

5. S U M M A R Y
GLOBALISATION OF WORK 2
GLOBAL WORKPLACE TRENDS 8
IMPACT ON LEADERSHIP 12
FEEDBACKS & SOLUTIONS 20
CONCLUSION 24
HEARD OF GLOBAL MINDSET ? 25
JOIN THE ‘ICQPRENEUR’ ECOSYSTEM 29
1

6. GLOBALISATION
OF WORK The consequence of the globalisation of jobs and markets is the rise
of what we might call "transnationals".
These are a worldwide group of people who are able to relocate at
any time, making decisions based on relative global employment
trends and quality of life.
This global elite, with hybrid associations among multiple cultures and
societies, is building competencies that bridge societies in their
leadership style, cultural sensitivities and social networks.
Transnationals, able to speak more than one language, often carrying
dual citizenship, are constantly changing the codes of cross-cultural
communication that is so important for global organisations.
2
T h e r i s e o f ‘ Tra n s n a t i o n a l s '

7. It seems that now more than ever, even people in the
remotest parts of the world are able to work on online
global tasks and projects. Thus, whether you live in
Uzbekistan, Uruguay or Rwanda, the state of your national
economy is not necessarily affecting your ability to find work,
as the global virtual market transcends national economies !
3
V I R T U A L I Z A T I O N O F
T H E W O R K P L A C E
As a result of connectivity and globalisation, millions of
jobs across the world are constantly evolving.
Additionally, an increasing number of jobs can be
outsourced to a region with lower wages, or can even be
automatized/assisted by technology.
Ever wonder what a remotely based highly-educated
person in one country or another can actually do ?
The Western's positional advantage in educating its
population is rapidly eroding for higher skilled jobs as online
education platforms are now connecting students in vast
numbers, whilst enabling them to have very similar learning
experiences, and work towards similar qualifications.
This translates in young professionals in growing markets
now having quite similar backgrounds as their counterparts in
downtown New York, in the Silicon Valley or in Barcelona !
Being educated is one part of the work equation, but
naturally follows the question of jobs, isn’t that right ?

8. 4
WHO CONSIDERSTHEMSELVES
MOST DIGITALTODAY
AND WHAT DOES IT MEAN FORTHE
GLOBAL WORKFORCE ?

9. IF CERTAIN BUSINESS UNITS WITHIN YOUR ORGANIZATION
ARE UNDERTAKING DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION EFFORTS,
WHICH ARE THOSE ?
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%
BOARD
C-SUITE
CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE
CUSTOMER SERVICE
HR
INNOVATION
IT
LEGAL
MARKETING
PR
PRODUCT
R&D
SALES
If there’s one stake that truly
makes the difference in
adopting a digital culture,
it’s by involving equally all
business units.
Unfortunately, quite too often,
IT remains at the top of this
transformational effort, being
the unit we blame when not
able to collaborate digitally…
Source : Altimeter Digital Transformation Survey 2019, n=85
5

10. 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%
Using strategic investments and/or M&A to expand
digital capabilities
Training and/or hiring employees for/with new skill sets
Formalizing innovation efforts or creating an innovation
team to test new digital concept
Modernizing the employee experience
Creating a digital culture that's more literate and
adaptable
Corporate reorganization of people and teams to
increase efficient digital collobarations
Improve operational agility and modernize policies to
encourage adaptability and change
Accelerating innovation through formal programs
Further reasearches into our customer's digital
touchpoints and customer journey
Investing in more intuitive mobile/ecommerce platforms
Modernize IT infrastructures and technologies while
increasing agility and flexibility
Integrating all social, mobile, web efforts and investments
to deliver integrated customer experience
When asked about their long term
initiatives, most companies’
leadership team placed key actions
towards their customers as well as
their IT infrastructures and
capabilities.
A quite lower number when it
comes to internal strategic
initiatives such as reorganizing
people, creating an adaptable
digital culture or even, training
employees.
Let’s then dig more into key global
trends and see which of those
initiatives seem to impact global
interactions’ the most, and how.
6
WHICH INITIATIVES ARE
MOST IMPORTANT
TO YOUR LONG-TERM
DIGITAL EFFORTS ?
Source : Altimeter Digital Transformation Survey 2019, n=85

11. G L O B A L W O R K L PA C E T R E N D S
7

12. K E Y T R E N D S S H A P I N G G L O B A L M A R K E T
8
NEW
BEHAVIOR
TECHNOLOGIES
CROSS
CULTURAL
INTERACTIONS
LEADERSHIP
MULTI-
GENERATIONAL
WORKFORCE
ENGAGEMENT

13. The rise of remote work has seen the fast increase of new habits and behaviours from
the workforce. Now more than ever, our colleagues are constantly surprising us with new communication styles.
According to a LinkedIn survey, 80% of companies agree that soft skills have become key to their success.
Work flexibility has become the new norm.The challenge is how fast companies can provide it.
Most companies have turned to technology to make it happen, while being able to keep control, and the result
has been the rise of collaboratives tools to help employee perform their job more efficiently from distance.
Offering flexibility has accompanied itself with greater diversity, co-workers collaborating on projects
from any continent and time zones.This naturally leads to complexified interactions between
people from incredibly different backgrounds and habits, as well as cultural and social groups.
It’s not a matter of changing or offering (new) technology and flexibility, but rather about making sure
diversity benefits the company. Reason why 2020 most wanted skills from CEOs are the soft skills.
From emotional to cultural intelligence, leadership has turned gold to keep remote teams engaged.
Engagement…? A US study reveals that 3 out of 4 american workers are unhappy at work.
Same numbers across European studies, with over
76% of employees passively looking for new jobs.
NEW BEHAVIOR
& SOFT SKILLS
CROSS CULTURAL
INTERACTIONS
TECHNOLOGIES &
WORK FLEXIBILITY
LEADERSHIP
WORKFORCE
ENGAGEMENT
9

14. G L O B A L T E A M L E A D E R S ’ F E E D B AC K S
N E W B A H AV I O R S
T E C H N O L O G Y
C R O S S - C U LT U R A L
I N T E R A C T I O N S
E N G A G E M E N T
“Now during digital meetings, people are on their phones, it’s
really hard to get them to focus…”
“Employees have become really impatient, they expect you to
react almost immediately !”
“ It’s so tricky to have people from such different cultural
backgrounds and communication habits behind a screen, and
not being able to perceive how they feel”
“While implementing smoothly a new collaborative tool EMEA
wise within our group, we suddenly bumped into strong reticent
behaviors for our us business unit”
“We are using tons of collaborative tools and we have no
guidelines at all for their use”
“Every time we onboard a new tool, the technology adoption
time is highly variable from one team member to another”
“For me, the hardest part is the lack of personal connection. I
feel like I am not able to connect as much as I used to, which
directly impacts my team’s engagement level”
10
“Let’s remind that the hardest part is not to learn a new
behavior but rather let go of the former one!”
“I must confess that it’s still very hard for me to expect the
same form a US colleague than an Asian one, they are just so
different, you just can’t”

15. 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Work flexibility
Diversity management
Internal mobility
Soft skills
Digitalization
11 * sources : LinkedIn GlobalTrends Report EMEA 2019
&Workable survey on Future of Work May 2020
TOP 5 TRENDS TRANSFORMING THE WORKPLACE TO WATCH IN 2020
WHAT IS YOUR COMPANY
POST-PANDEMIC PLAN?

16. T H E I M PA C T O N T E A M L E A D E R S H I P
12

17. We a s k e d i n t e r v i e w e e s t o
d e s c r i b e a n d d e f i n e t h e i r
c u r r e n t e n v i r o n m e n t a n d
t h e t r e n d i s q u i t e c l e a r :
T h e i r t e a m s a r e m o s t l y
w o r k i n g r e m o t e l y a n d
s p r e a d a c r o s s b o r d e r s ,
w h i l e t h e y p e r c e i v e t h e i r
t e a m a s d i v e r s e .
13
H OW WO U L D YO U D E S C R I B E YO U R
C O M PA N Y / T E A M E N V I RO N M E N T OV E R A L L ?
* source: Google survey and interviews n=40
SPREAD ACROSS
COUNTRIES
WORKING
REMOTELY
HIGHLY DIVERSE QUITE DIVERSE DIGITAL READY

18. 14
Most interviewed global team
leaders agree that digitalization
has strongly reduced geographical
barriers
and thus allow them to collaborate
with their team member flawlessly
and communicate with them quite
instantaneously
regardless of their location.
* source: Google survey and interviews n=40
STRONGLY
AGREE
AGREE
NOT SURE
DISAGREE
STRONGLY
DISAGREE
REDUCING GEOGRAPHICAL BORDERS

19. 15
On the other hand, same interrogated
panel also agrees that digitalization
has significantly
increased communication barriers
* source: Google survey and interviews n=60
STRONGLY
AGREE
AGREE
NOT SURE
DISAGREE
STRONGLY
DISAGREE
INCREASING COMMUNICATION CHALLENGES

20. 16
M O S T C O M M O N C H A L L E N G E S F A C E D
W H I L E L E A D I N G G L O B A L T E A M S
L AC K O F H U M A N C O N N E C T I O N
M I S C O M M U N I C AT I O N
U N C L E A R C O M PA N Y G U I D E L I N E S
G E N E R AT I O N A L G A P
L A N G UAG E B A R E E R
A DA P TA B I L I T Y
WO R K - L I F E B A L A N C E
COMMUNICATION
TECHNOLOGY
CULTURAL
DIFFERENCES
DIGITAL
KNOWLEDGE
DEHUMANIZED
INTERACTIONS
OTHERS
STRONGEST INTERACTION CHALLENGES
* source: Google survey and interviews n=60

21. “My view is that the downside of digitalised interactions is the difficulty in creating a team culture with the risk
of miscommunication due to cultural differences, and the overlap of our lives as we’re connected 24/7/365”
“ Unfortunately, our company still mostly runs on email, which makes it really hard for me as a team
leader since my team involves me in all communications… we’re talking about 200 to 300
emails daily. it gets hard to disconnect…”
“Our company is fan of brand new tools, we are using so many of them! often times, I do
not get a chance to catch it all, and I may miss important things happening…”
“Most of the time, i get anxious before digital meetings with my spread time, as I often
time feel nobody is paying attention. so now, I talk to 2 or 3 team members before
each meetings”
“In order to make myself understood from the most of my team, I had to grow a very
direct communication style. I had few options but become straightforward, and it may not
suit everyone…”
“Our collaborative tools look promising at first, but then we soon realize that the information is all
over the place! it could be nice to have some kind of moderator or coordinator to ensure out tools’
governance in my opinion”
“Taking decision has strangely become the ‘easiest’ part of my job. the
execution is now the tough part!”17
LEADERSHIP
IN REAL LIFE

22. QUITE
LIKELY
QUITE
UNLIKELY
H OW L I K E LY WO U L D YO U
S AY R E M OT E WO R K W I L L
B E C O M E T H E N E W N O R M ?
* source: ICQ survey May 2020 n=60
While interviewed leaders mostly agree that remote work will soon
become the new norm when interacting with their teams, they are
also quite unanimous on the fact that it will change things :
NOT MUCH IT WILL CHANGE
SOME THINGS
IT WILL RADICALLY
CHANGE THINGS
WHAT WILL BE THE IMPACT ON
TEAMS' INTERACTIONS ?
18

23. v Digital is perceived as reducing geographical barriers
v Digital is associated with an increase in communication challenges
v Remote teams are perceived as generating diversity and being diverse
v Cultural differences remain a key issue when leading global teams
v Digital and technology don’t resonate the same across companies and teams
19
QUICK CHAPTER RECAP
WHAT
ABOUT YOU,
WHAT DO
YOU THINK ?

24. 20
F E E D B A C K S A N D S O L U T I O N S

25. W H AT A R E S O M E K E Y
L E A D E R S H I P T R A I T S T H AT
H AV E H E L P E D YO U I M P ROV E
I N T E R AC T I O N S W I T H
YO U R T E A M ?
P
A
T
I
E
N
C
E
C
O
N
F
I
D
E
N
C
E
F
L
E
X
I
B
I
L
I
T
Y
S
H
O
W
T
H
E
E
X
A
M
P
L
E
S
E
L
F
-
A
W
A
R
E
N
E
S
S
C
O
G
N
I
T
I
V
E
S
K
I
L
L
S
L I S T E N I N G S K I L L S
E M PAT H Y
T R A I N I N G
C O A C H I N G S K I L L S
E F F E C T I V E C O M M U N I C AT I O N
AVA I L A B I L I T Y
M I N D F U L N E S S
T R A N S A PA R E N C Y
21
On the other hand, we asked
employees working remotely
what support they generally
seek from their leaders
* source: Google survey and interviews n=60

26. 22
NOT SURE NO YES
It seems like so far
companies are
essentially focusing on
providing the workforce
with training on how to
use new tool they
onboard rather than
how to efficiently
communicate through
digital
H AV E YO U E V E R H E A R D A B O U T D I G I TA L
C O M M U N I C AT I O N T R A I N I N G S ?
* source: Google survey and interviews n=40

27. When we asked them about
the idea of implementing
such a digital communication
training, interviewees largely
agreed on the benefits that
these trainings could bring
to their team and company
COULD YOUR TEAM OR COMPANY BENEFIT FROM SUCH A
TRAINING TO IMPROVE COLLABORATION AND INTERACTION ?
23
TOTALLY YES PROBABLY NOT SURE NO
* source: Google survey and interviews n=40

28. C O N C L U S I O N
24
Across these interviews and surveys, the key
datas to remember are the following ones :
v An additional form of communication is rapidly expanding
across global teams and the way the interact ;
v This new form of communication is impacting global teams
and their interactions through additional layers of frictions
from technology ones to leadership ones ;
v The workforce will have to develop new skills to better
navigate and leverage these complex interactions ;
v Digital collaboration is most likely culture-driven rather than
technology-driven ;
v Companies should most probably look into digital
communication or cognitive trainings to best prepare their
employee work towards a constantly evolving global setting
in order to reduce the so liable interaction gap;
“ If I had to state how digitalization has impacted
interactions in the workplace, I'd say :
Less hull effor t, more mind effor t ”

29. E V E R H E A R D O F G L O B A L M I N D S E T ?
25

30. Global mindset is the ability to absorb information
and get a grasp of ‘cultural’ norms that are unfamiliar
to us and be able to use them to impact this new
environment.
In other words, it is a capability that allows an
individual to function in new and unknown situation
and to integrate this new understanding with other
existing skills and knowledge, without experiencing too
much stress.
26
SELF
AWARENESS
CO
N
FID
EN
CE
ADAPTABILITYCOGNITIVE
FLEXIBILITY

31. 27
Cognitive flexibility has been described as the ability to
switch between thinking about two different concepts, even
to think about multiple concepts simultaneously.
In order to be able to switch from one perspective to
another, it is quite necessary to understand the
blueprint of why people think differently.
Adopting an adaptive mindset is a natural path to
Cultural Intelligence (ICQ), which is the ability to
leverage cultural differences, even influence them.
The role of the team leader is to maximize the
level of interaction in order to elevate the team
to its highest potential, often times enabled by a
high level of ICQ!

32. COGNITIVE
DIVERSITY
IN THE
WORKPLACE
28
Diversity is either the greatest asset or the biggest
liability, and it all depends on our level of cultural
intelligence. Inviting someone at a party does mean
we have to ask him to dance!
90% of strategy is execution and 90% of
execution is interaction…
A proven way to get better chances to grow your
cognitive flexibility is to build up your ICQ game and
understand the blueprint of why people think and
behave differently.
And remember, don’t do to others what they
don't want to be done unto them!

33. 29
T H E I C Q P R E N E U R E C O S Y S T E M

34. WHO ARE
ICQPRENEURS ?
Interaction
Gap
Best potential team score
Actual team score
ICQpreneurs are individuals who understand that on average
79% of team performance is lost or damaged due to clash of
values and beliefs, leading to severe communication issues.
30

35. 31
ICQ goes way beyond nationalities; cultural differences are
clashes of common senses, which often time are way bigger
around us than on the other side of the globe !
90% of business is interaction of people who think and
behave differently, no matter where they come from or
their skin color, their age or their native language.
ICQpreneurs are aware of culture being a programing of
the mind distinguishing group members from one another
and thus, can program and train their brain to learn how to
best respond to a perspective they are unfamiliar with,
rather than react like the brain has been subconsciously
programed to…
GLOBAL = INTERCULTURAL ≠ INTERNATIONAL
THE BIGGEST DISTANCE BETWEEN
TWO PEOPLE IS
MISUNDERSTANDING

36. 32
THE ICQPRENEUR TOOLBOX
(Part 1)
How can you measure ICQ and map
your team’s cognitive diversity index ?
I compared my personal results with a
group of 20 individuals, coming from all
over the world, from all ages and skin
colors, filling the assessment in different
native languages.
The results reveal a quite low cognitive
diversity index as well as a predominant
style across the group.
A perfect illustration of a misleading and
tricky (visible) diversity layer !
D I
S C
Blindspot
60%
Low diversity
40%

37. THE ICQPRENEUR TOOLBOX
(Part 2)
Example of a multicultural individual’s
ICQ profile
33
Here is the perfect example of a bicultural individual, a
transnational profile born in Argentina now living in
Switzerland.
The results are showing us that this individual’s
preferences are globally leaning towards the Swiss style,
except from the communication style.
A consequence of the new culture code ? Or a capacity
to read and adapt to it ?

38. Are you willing to go up the
nonvisible diversity ladder
and lead efficiently your
global team to maximize
digital cooperation by flexing
your cognitive capability and
adapt to your team’s
communication and behavior
styles ?
34
We are a consulting brand partnering with global
companies willing to engage their multicultural teams,
leveraging diversity through tailored talent acquisition
and retention services.
With over 10 years in the recruitment industry, mainly
toward the international and digital scene, we are
committed to helping our clients identify, engage with
and successfully onboard intercultural leaders !
>>>>> Discover more here: www.haute-culture.co

39. O U R “ I C Q ’ PA RT N E R S
Catenon is the multinational
technology-based Executive Search
Company, which strives to search
for, assess and present candidates
from around the world to their
clients, wherever the stakeholders
may be, thanks to a data powered
inhouse web-model, and advanced
digital consulting innovations.
TBS Education is present today across 5
campuses: Toulouse, Paris, Barcelona,
Casablanca and London. TBS is one of
the few schools with triple international
accreditation: EQUIS, AACSB and AMBA.
Open to the world, TBS has signed over
200 exchange agreements with major
universities spread across the globe.
Nearly 80 nationalities are interacting
on a regular basis across our campuses!
ICQ Global is dedicated to working
with leaders and teams who have a
clear vision and outstanding skills, but
they are not sure why they are getting
just a fraction of the results they are
capable of. ICQ Global has combined
the latest business data with academic
research to develop the multi award-
winning, internationally accredited
portfolio of assessments, training and
coaching to bring out the best in you
and your team.

40. DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION IS
NEITHER DATA DRIVEN NOR
TECHNOLOGY DRIVEN,
BUT RATHER CULTURE DRIVEN